Improvement in sleighs



O. T. CHASE.

- Sleigh.

v No. 215,571. Patented May 20, 1879..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES T. CHASE, OF THOMASTON, MAINE.

-IMPROVEMENT IN SLEIGHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,571, dated May 20,1879; application filed February 24, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

used chiefly to carry persons.

It consists of a device for holding up the forward part of the sleighand throwing the weight thereof upon the horse when the said forwardpart is moving over a depression on the roadway.

It is well known to those living in parts of the country where snows ofconsiderable depth lie upon the ground during the winter that theroadways are frequently cut by the repeated action of the runners ofpassing sleighs or other vehicles into sharp depressions. As sleighshave been heretofore made, the shafts are hinged to the runners, braces,or some convenient part of the structure, and are free to move up ordown, which free movement is, to a certain extent, necessary. A resultof this hinged connection, however, is, when the sleigh is drawn over aroadway cut or gougcd with depressions, as heretofore described, thatthe forward part of the sleigh pitches with more or less violenceforward and downward into the depression, and the runners, as they riseout of said depression, strike the opposite incline and are thrown up,while the rear falls into the depression. This imparts a motion to thesleigh exceedingly unpleasant to the rider, fatigues the horse by theviolence of the backward jerks occasioned by the impact of the forwardpart of the runners against the snow as they rise out of the depression,and frequently causes some part, either of the harness or sleigh, tobreak.

I have entirely overcome these difficulties by a simple device, which isclearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which shows aperspective View of an ordinary sleigh with the device attached thereto.

To the frame-work of the sleigh, on each side, I securea bar, preferablyof some light and strong wood, the forward ends of which bars projectbeyond the runners and underneath the shafts. The end of the bar on eachside I attach to the shaft above it by a strap or any equivalentflexible connection. The bar should be firmly attached to the sleigh,and both the bars and the strap-connections should be of strengthsufficient to suspend from the shafts the weight of the forward part ofthe sleigh and its proportion of the load.

In the drawing I have shown the bars a b connected to the posts of thesleigh on the outside, and just underneath the ends of the beams c c.The ends project in front of the upper part of the runners, and areconnected to the shafts by the straps g g. These straps have a clip onthe lower end for ready attachment to the end of the bar.

It is obvious that the position of the bar may be changed and the modesof connection varied without departing from the spirit of my invention,which includes as the essential idea the suspension of the forward partof the sleigh from a point on the shafts a little in advance of thehinged connection of said shafts, so that when the sleigh passes over asharp depression the forward part will be upheld by the shafts andprevented from sinking into said depression.

Where the shafts are pivoted to the sleigh considerably in rear of theupright part of the runners, it may be practicable to carry the strap 9back diagonally to some point on the said vertical parts, and in thisway form a secure connection.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to besecured by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination, with the thills of a sleigh, of an elasticattachment connected to such sleigh at a point below the thills, and aflexible connection between the said elastic attachment and the thills,for the purpose of supporting the sleigh, substantially as set forth.

2, The bars a b, attached to the sides of the sleigh and combined withthe straps and shafts, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. T. CHASE.

Witnesses: I

W. M. WILSON, J. H. H. HEWETT.

